7 posts were merged into an existing topic: PS Audio AirLens
Well @tonyplachy, you may want to try disconnecting your AL from the NAS and use WiFi instead. That is exactly what Paul suggests may give you same if not better results, and allow you to stash the NAS away from your audio setup, avoiding fan noise etc…
I had chance to try Airlens for few days in my setup (with DS MK2) , installation required just plugging Airlens into chain and it immediately appeared in Roon and was ready to play - nice!
And here is what I hear:
- ethernet is still fairly important , with EtherRegen in the path the sound fluidity is better, less grain etc
- streaming protocol (Roon vs UPnP with transcoding to wav) still gives bit different sound, but now the preference is not so clear in favor of UPnP - each sound a bit different, but not simply better/worse
- Airlens can be sensitive to phase polarity on power input - initially I had it plugged into P10 same the way as other devices , but the mids were bit muted and got bit shrill on highs. After reversing the power cable polarity the sound went to what i’m used to
- I2S sounds more open on top end than coax (but I had only entry level coax cable vs nice Wireworld Silver Sphere HDMI cable so take this with grain of salt)
- sound is a smidge cleaner with high frequencies (sibilances, cymbals) than my current tuned rpi-based streamer with Matrix2 and supercap PSUs (overall bit more expensive than Airlens), but lost some clarity on low frequencies - see below
- I got perceivably more mid-bass with Airlens, making female voices nicely warm, but bass guitar on some tracks lost some definition (it’s bit boomy), but this can be also eventually caused by acoustic in my room not playing well. I believe this level of mid-bass can be actually correct as now the bass instruments sound more coherent (before, I apparently had “nulls” in some bass frequencies)
- soundstage is also bit different, instruments are placed a bit differently than what I’m used to, it sounds like L-R space got bit smaller, but in the same time more precisely defined (i think i can better discern location of 2 instruments playing close to each other). However on electronic music tracks with phase shifts and reversals, the resulting 3D effect is now less pronounced to what I was used to.
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Thanks for posting. I’ll be posting a review of inserting an AL between my Roon Nucleus and MK2 DAC (an improvement).
My first Airlens did not work, using mconnect, on Qobuz HR files w sampling rates of multiples of 48 kHz, but those with sampling rates with multiples of 44.1 worked fine…really weird. PS Audio was very nice in trying to sort this out, eventually gave up and swapped units with me. The new one is GREAT, works fine, and sounds wonderful with my WEISS DAC 204
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My experience is that the issues with sibilances and soundstage usually go away after break-in.
I played pink noise through mine for about one week (when I wasn’t listening). Things were much better after that.
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So how do you reverse the power cable polarity ?
I was wondering the same thing with it being a three prong plug. 
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Not everyone lives in North America… 
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I see said the blind man. 
Doh, you make an excellent point! 
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I live in EU and have Shuko sockets in P10 , so it’s easy to rotate power cable by 180’ and the polarity gets inverted
Welcome to the forum JW944ts!
You’ll be happy to know that your experience isn’t unusual. PSA has amazing customer support.
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Just had a brief opportunity to try burned-in Paul Pang quad switch instead of my EtherRegen (with OM Deluxe and 10g Finisar optical modules) with Airlens.
Regen sounds bit veiled in comparison to PP , which subjectively extends the high frequencies and make them cleaner , presence is better , attack of transients is more visceral and decays lasts longer. Soundstage width got more to what I was used with my rpi-based streamer (more extended).
Finally the Regen + PP in series going to Airlens went bit further with better dynamics and colourfulness of sound - it reminded me hearing tuned PST in my setup longer time ago which is kind of reference for me 
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" tuned PST " ???
Yes, it had modified PSU with caps in external box (3rd the size of PST itself - Mundorf top tier all around).
I have listened to it before and after this modification and although I was skeptic with the idea of this kind of overkill for digital-only device the difference in resulting sound was actually quite stunning.
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4 posts were merged into an existing topic: PS Audio AirLens
I’m currently trialing my new Airlens. Set up was a breeze. I’ve got it connected to my new DS MkII DAC (which btw was a clear improvement over the DSJr DAC I previously had). So far I’m underwhelmed and undecided. My current streaming set up is a combo of a Mojo Audio modified Mac Mini with LPS for local network and Qobuz streaming + a gen1 Sonos Connect for Spotify, Soundcloud, etc.
The Airlens clearly bests the Sonos for Spotify streaming, which is nice because I listen to Spotify a lot, but this should have been an easy comp. The issue is that the modded Mac Mini still sounds better than the Airlens for Qobuz & local files, which are my higher res and better sounding sources. The Mac sounds more fleshed out - more “meat on the bone” so to speak, while also being easier on the ears. The Airlens has a little edge and thinness to the sound in comparison. Imaging, separation, resolution seem to be about equal between the two. But to my surprise, the Mac is consistently sounding better over two nights of focused reviewing. I can switch between sources without leaving my seat, btw.
I’ve had the Airlens powered on for 2 weeks now and streaming for about half that time since the stream drops every time my phone leaves the local network (or just ramdomly… another issue). Several people in the thread have mentioned the AL benefits from an extended break in time, so I’ll give it another week, but so far for the price it needs to beat not just a sonos, but an old PC+LPS as well.
I’ll report back again. Thoughts welcome from others in the meantime.
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For me it came down it not sounding as good as the PST - granted at AXPONA. But still, I haven’t seen any reports of recent AL users indicating it either equals, or betters, a PST into a DS MkII. So for me it’s a no-go.
Different use cases to my mind.
That said, if you mean you want a streamer that is so good that it sounds better than the PST, but not for the purpose of replacing the PST; that’s a fair standard to try and reach.
Good luck and would be interesting to know if you find such a beast.
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